Rider Diary: Ociel Borjas from Moab Training Camp

April, 2017 — Each year BJC hosts a training camp in Moab during spring break. I was very lucky this year and I got a very decent scholarship to attend the camp. I am thankful for BJC’s help for all this, it’s helped me become a better rider and helped my family a huge amount.

The training was very hard but the camp was amazing. Day 1 we headed out of town and hit some hilly roads. By 50 or 60 miles I was toasted and had to hop in the van. I learned that it’s more honorable to know when to quit than to just waste myself.

The next days went better and I felt stronger. I was able to finish 75 miles on Day 2! Day 3 was our off day, but i had a lot of fun doing a short recovery ride with 3 of my teammates, Jared Scott, Ryan Stowers, and Dakota Cline.

Day 4 we did a brutal bridging drill where we learned to close down gaps. Then we put in some steady miles and later on coach Mike Friedman and myself attacked and held off the group for a good while. But as any early attack, it will be caught at some point.

We had amazing coaches. Andy, our head coach, is a great person to talk to if I need to know something and if i need special help with my riding. Mike Friedman was really just such a fun person to be around and to talk to. He took a lot of our videos and gave me a lesson on sponsors. Eric Brunner was our last coach and he was good because I felt like I could connect with him more since he just left BJC last year. All in all, camp was an amazing experience with some truly amazing people.